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Philadelphia Eagles sign dog killer Vick
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Vick, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and now the Eagles have benefited from widespread fan misunderstanding of the true extent and cruel nature of Vick's crimes Photo: Bet.com
Philadelphia Eagles President Joe Banner announced Thursday night that the team has signed disgraced former Atlanta Falcon and admitted dog killer Michael Vick to a two-year contract.
As previously reported in this column, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated Vick on a conditional basis last month, stating at that time that Vick "will be considered for full reinstatement and to play in regular-season games by Week 6 [of the season] based on the progress he makes in his transition plan."
It is unclear how Vick can be eligible to sign a two-year deal if his reinstatement is only conditional at this time. It also calls into question whether Goodell and the NFL, instead of determining Vick's future based on his conduct during the initial six-week period, were simply waiting to see if any NFL team wanted Vick before committing the league to a full reinstatement.
The Eagles announced the move on the website via the column "On the Inside" written by Dave Spadaro, under the breathless headline "Yes, It's True! Vick Is An Eagle." The brief article contains few details on the deal, although Spadaro gushes that the news "certainly is exciting, thrilling, shocking." Spadaro does not once mention Vick's conviction, nor the specific crimes to which he pled guilty. Such omissions go far toward explaining why so many people across the nation are still unaware of the extent of Vick's admitted brutality towards his own dogs, as well as to family pet dogs he and his friends placed in the ring with fighting dogs because, according to a 2008 USDA report, they "thought it was funny to watch the pit bull dogs belonging to [Vick’s] Bad Newz Kennels injure or kill the other dogs."
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What true rehabilitation looks like: Leo, once a Vick dog, is now a certified therapy dog Photo: msnbc.com
Also helping to promote widespread misconceptions that Vick only "fought a few dogs" is the fact that throughout his legal odyssey Vick himself has only publicly acknowledged committing "immature acts" and, more recently, "terrible mistakes." Even today, comments left on the Eagles website by fans who support the Vick signing insist, incorrectly, that Vick only fought dogs, rather reflecting an understanding of the fact that in addition to putting pet dogs in the ring with trained fighters, Vick also both participated in killing and conspired to kill at least thirteen of his own dogs by various means including shooting, hanging, drowning, electrocution and, in one case, viciously slamming the dog's body to the ground; acts that NFL Commissioner Goodell once characterized as "not only illegal, but also cruel and reprehensible.” Apparently Goodell's opinion of killing dogs by various torturous means has changed.
What is clear is that even Eagles fans have mixed feelings about the move, with reader comments on the Eagles site ranging from disgusted to defensive.
Once doomed, some dogs mistreated as fighters now have the chance to live as beloved pets. Here former Vick dog Zippy poses with loving new owners the Hernandez family Photo: si.com
Fan sreis523 says "i'm a die hard eagles fan and when i first heard the news about the signing i was excited. after thinking about it, second chance or not someone that can get off torturing animals has a serious character flaw that isn't changed by spending a year in prison. we don't [need] that [type] of person on this team. eventually the poison will surface."
But it's clear that Vick's (and now Goodell's and the Eagles front office's) strategy of hiding the true nature of the Vick's crimes has paid off, as some fans reveal on the Eagles site how little they understand about what Vick actually did.
Vick defender dbm517 writes "you'd rather discuss a man who served two years for dogfighting he PAID for, not took part of," and Ugly.penny writes: "Dogfighting was overrated. It's not like he murdered people. He made animals fight. Big F-fing deal!!!"
[Both statements are untrue, Vick not only purchased the property on which the dogs were housed expressly for the purposes of dog fighting, but he personally participated in the fights, in the killings of his own Pit Bulls, and in putting untrained family pets into the ring with fighting dogs to watch them be killed.]
Hopefully, since moral considerations have clearly had no weight with either Commissioner Goodell or the Eagles front office, one can only hope that the consequences to the team play out in the only way that means anything in the NFL, as summed up by this comment left by fan orbgoddess: "Congrats guys! You've managed to do in one day and one jot of a pen what 40 years of without a championship had not: convert me to a Steelers' fan!"
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